Bill Stumpf designer of the Aeron office chair

Bill Stumpf (1936-2006) Bill Stumpf was a furniture designer at Herman Miller and invented the first ergonomic office chair the Ergon and the later the famous Aeron office chair. Born in St Louis Missouri his father a brewer at Anheuser-Busch died when he was only 13. The family them moved to Winconsin. After a spell in te US Navy Bill graduated from the University of Illinois in Environmental Design. At Herman Miller he met a freelance designer Don Chadwick. Bill and Dom designed the Ergon range of chairs a precursor of many of the office chairs we sit on today. These chairs set new standards in the world of office seating. Bill was also able to start his won design practice as well as working at Herman Miller and also was on the design team that produced the Ethospace office furniture system. In 2006 Bill was awarded the National Design Award for product design by the National Design Museum in New York where the Aeron chair is on permanent exhibit.